The Rundown

The Canucks limped into yesterday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights losers of six straight with goals in only three of those games. And in those rare moments when the Canucks have scored, their goaltending has fallen apart behind them.
That didn’t bode well, especially considering the Canucks had to step into T-Mobile Arena, where the Knights own the best home record in the entire NHL.
The results? Well, they were about as predictable as it gets. With that, let’s get into another ugly effort from the Canucks, one that saw them drop a 4-1 decision to the Golden Knights, good for a seventh straight loss.

Puck Drop

It didn’t take long for the Golden Knights to put this game out of reach. Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault beat Jacob Markstrom just under four minutes in, and his teammate Cody Eakin batted one out of mid-air less than a minute later. That put the Knights up 2-0 less than five minutes into the game.
The Canucks well-documented scoring struggles such as they are, it seemed like a foregone conclusion at this point that they weren’t going to storm back. Even Canucks head coach Travis Green admitted as much after the game.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare sent that point home with authority, sending a wrist shot home in the slot after a blown coverage low in the Canucks zone. It’s a goal that Markstrom probably should have had, but that’s par for the course this season.
You’d think that a deficit like that would light a fire under the Canucks, but they tripped out of the gate in the second frame, and hardly mustered much if any offensive pressure. Tomas Tatar added to the Knights lead with just five minutes left for just his second goal with the Knights and his first at home.
Brandon Sutter scored for the Canucks in the third period, but that was about all that the Canucks had left in them.

Quick Hits

  • With yesterday’s loss, the Canucks are 30th in the league, tied with the Arizona Coyotes. Both teams have 59 points, but the Coyotes have a game in hand. The Coyotes play the Buffalo Sabres today, so here’s hoping it goes to overtime. If the Sabres win, that puts the Canucks in 31st place. It’s all looking up Vancouver.
  • Jake Virtanen had one of his better games of late, and that’s saying something because he’s really starting to put it together. Last night, the Canucks controlled over 70% of the shots with Virtanen on the ice, and he alone had two shots and seven attempts. Hell, at least somebody’s trying.